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History in
a Pecan Shell
Frisco had formerly been named after the landowner of the townsite
- Francis Emerson. When the town was granted a post office in 1902,
it was renamed to avoid confusion with Emberson, Texas in Lamar
County. The town voted to name their city after the railroad that
served them.
The St. Louis, San Francisco and Texas Railway was popularly
named the "Frisco Line" - their slogan "Ship it on the Frisco"
was seen by impatient and irritated drivers everywhere. The town became
Frisco City - later shortened to Frisco.
Frisco became a shipping point and kept a respectable degree of autonomy
all through the 20th century. In 1960 there were less than 1,200 residents,
and even by 1980 it had only increased to 3,500. Today the population
has increased to 33,714 people. |
Frisco
Today
Photographer's
Note:
Frisco is an amazing place. Fifteen years ago I rode a bike through
here 3-4 times a week and could traverse the built up section of town
in less than 5 minutes. Now the town stretches north to south along
289 for 5-7 miles.
I took pictures of the old downtown section and the central fire station.
Had anyone told me I could be impressed by a fire station I would
have thought they were nuts, until I saw this one. For a realistic
view of town you need pictures of the massive mall and high volume
of new construction. I'd guess that 95% + of the town was constructed
in the last 10 years or so. Wiki quotes a pop. number of around 95k.
Frisco and Little Elm are two of the fastest growing cities in Texas.
Frisco is also one of the wealthiest along with adjoining Plano.
It also calls Collin county the wealthiest county in Texas.
In '72 when I moved there, the population of Collin county couldn't
have been much over 50k. I see numbers of upwards of 750k now.
Frisco, McKinney,
and Plano appear to have gone to
a lot of trouble to preserve what was left of their old small town
business districts, and in Plano
and Frisco have required new construction to be of a style that it's
almost difficult to tell the old from the new. Knowing what these
towns looked like 35-40 years ago, and seeing them now as they change,
it's almost like visiting a new town on the infrequent times I go
there. - Mike
Price, November 14, 2007 |
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The
McIntire-Montgomery Building
Photo courtesy Mike
Price, 2007 |
The
McIntire-Montgomery Building plaque
Photo courtesy Mike
Price, 2007 |
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